You are prescribed the following dose of awesome. The ISS. From Earth. In 3D. No glasses.

I've just discovered the website of French astrophotographer Thierry Legault. There is an absolute stack of astro-wonders to immerse yourself in on his website, and all taken with amateur gear (albeit pretty good amateur gear!) from Terra Firma.

But this takes the cake. A video of the International Space Station passing overhead in stunning detail - when you consider that it is 360 kilometres away and travelling at a relative velocity of  27,360 kilometres per hour...

(You'll have to view them on his site as I can't embed them and sorry iThing users - it's in Flash v10.)

But that's not good enough for Legault. He gets a 3D version to boot (on the same page), then sets it up so you can watch it straight there on your computer screen, no special glasses - just make yourself go cross-eyed! Practice first on the following freeze-frame...

Cross your eyes to see four images of the ISS. Merge the two central images. Concentrate only on the central one.

Once you've got the 3D thing happening hop over to this page to learn how he takes these incredible ISS clips, using just a 10-inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope - and a bunch of tracking and video equipment! (Although I presume he has to use two for the 3D clip.) He shows the raw video, with all of its atmospheric wobbling and blurring, then the processed product, combining 10 frames at a time using a stacking and registering program.

You can do the same sort of thing (...ish!) with just a DSLR camera and a decent telephoto lens, in HD video mode, and a free software package called Registax

But be warned -you may find yourself on a path of evermore expensive challenges like Legault!

Now - off you go back to his website to explore those other wonders! Here's one just to tempt you -stunning globular cluster (read: mini-galaxy) Omega Centauri - NGC5139:

Can you imagine what your night sky would look like from a planet in the middle of that?? Sigh...